Why Microsoft’s “Scroogled” Campaign Is Childish

You’ve probably seen the ads by now. They’ve been going for months now. From T-Shirts to the Pawn Stars, Microsoft is trying their hardest to change how people think about Google. Microsoft is starting an all out war with Google, but they are the only ones firing. Why? Because Google doesn’t need too. Actions speak louder than words.

As far back as I can remember, the Scroogled campaign started with Bing vs. Google Search. Microsoft “took people to the streets” in blind tests trying to show that Bing was better. This is completely false. While the more picture driven and admittedly better designed pages of Bing, it was actually later proven that Bing brings many of it results from Google’s Search engine. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Bing might be better presented for those who love pictures, but that shouldn’t matter. After all, you did go there to simply find an answer.

After failing to drive people away from Google, Microsoft next tried to kill a product that was just starting, Google Drive. By stating how Office was vastly superior to Drive, Microsoft was simply lying. While Office is great and very user friendly, Drive has nearly the same capabilities and many that Microsoft can only look at and drool. With easy sharing, free cloud storage, real time editing, and restricted users, Drive sounds pretty good to me.

Seemingly out of no where, Microsoft also released T-shirts, mugs, and other novelties trashing Google. Why they did this I still don’t understand, but it seems quite pointless. I also don’t know how legal it is since they blatantly use Google’s Chrome logo clearly. I do however think that Google had the best possible response to it. When asked about the shirts, Google said that they “are very interested in Microsoft’s latest venture. The wearables market is becoming very competitive”.

If Microsoft would have left it there they most likely would have not done any harm to Google or themselves. They may have even drawn a few more people from Google’s services. But instead they decided to continue, and at the same time become very childish. They began bashing Google’s Chromebooks. If you are unfamiliar with what a Chromebook is, you might want to do a little research on them before you listen to what Microsoft says. A Chromebook is a laptop that runs Chrome OS. Chrome OS is a light weight operating system which runs most programs and applications in the Chrome browser. That’s not all a Chromebook is, but it’s a good quick definition.

Acer C720 Chromebook

Microsoft has now started a pointless war on Chromebooks which says that they “aren’t real laptops” and are worthless without the internet. First of all, the true definition of the word laptop and Microsoft’s definition are appreantly very different. The dictionary definition of the word laptop is a “computer that is portable and suitable use while traveling”. No where in that definition does it mention that it has to run Windows or use Office. While yes, the Chromebook ecosystem is still much more limited than the Windows ecosystem, we have to remember that it is still new.

Chromebooks also aren’t designed to run Office or PhotoShop. Google doesn’t even market them that way. Google knows that a Chromebook could never fully replace your standard Windows or Mac computer, so they market it as a second or third computer. Since most people buy computers simply to browse the web, Chromebooks fill the gap between functionality and price. A decent Windows laptop could cost you hundreds of dollars, but almost every Chromebook on the market brings a great experience for a fraction of the cost.

Samsung Chromebook

Microsoft’s campaign also seems to be hurting them more than helping. Chromebooks have seen a massive increase in sales over the past few weeks. Part of this might actually be because Microsoft is making more people hear about them. For instance, I have friends and relatives who never knew what a Chromebook was, until they saw Microsoft’s commercial about them. They didn’t pull the bad things about Chromebooks out of the ad, but instead they simply learned something new. This has probably also happened to other people who in turn have most likely researched more about Chromebooks. Seeing $199 for a laptop with good reviews doesn’t exactly deter many parents.

What do you think of Microsoft’s campaign? Have you ever found it to be true or just a risky attempt to keep fleeing customers? Let me know in the comments!

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